Saturday, January 15, 2022

Mount Pleasant settles with property owners to purchase land near Foxconn, ending years of litigation

From JSOnline:

After years of litigation, the Village of Mount Pleasant has agreed to buy one of the last pieces of private property sought near the Foxconn Technology Group development.  

Mount Pleasant will pay Rodney and Catherine Jensen $569,300 for 2.92 acres of property and $226,700 for relocation costs for the Jensens and the businesses they operated at the site. However, $100,000 will be held back by the village to settle a lawsuit the Jensens are involved in with Kenosha County and to pay for any cleanup costs for the property.  

If the $100,000 is not enough to cover the litigation and cleanup, the additional costs will be paid for by the Jensens, the settlement agreement says. Any leftover money held back to pay to settle litigation and cleanup will be paid to the Jensens once they leave the property.  

Also, according to the settlement agreement, the Jensen will pay $126,700 to Eminent Domain Services, LLC, attorneys they hired to represent them in lawsuits against the village, and settle any liens against the property. 

When the village first approached the Jensens to purchase their property, the Foxconn project was proposed to be a Generation 10.5 LCD manufacuting facility but in 2019 it was scaled back to a Generation 6 facility, which is much smaller.

Foxconn originally planned to invest $10 billion and hire up to 13,000 workers in multiple cities around the state, but the project has changed dramatically to 1,454 jobs and and $672.8 million in investment.

The Jensens have until May 15 to vacate the property.  

On Monday, the Mount Pleasant Village Board voted unanimously to accept the agreement. 

“As it has since the beginning of the Foxconn project, the Village has endeavored to reach voluntary agreements with all property owners to acquire the property necessary for public infrastructure improvements. We are pleased to reach a mutually agreeable settlement with Rodney and Catherine Jensen," Chris Smith, an attorney for the village, said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/2022/01/14/mount-pleasant-owner-agree-sale-property-near-foxconn-site/6515294001/

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